In August and September 2026 the ABC's 7.30 reported that a large national solar and battery retailer is under investigation in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia after hundreds of customer complaints. The company had already been removed from the industry's consumer code. A later report carried allegations from industry insiders about rebate claims being lodged on unfinished jobs.
We are not going to pile on. Most of the people working in solar do the job properly. But the federal battery rebate has brought a rush of new sellers into the market since July 2025, and more than half a million batteries have gone in since then. When an industry grows that fast, the gap between a good operator and a poor one gets harder to see from the outside.
This is a short, plain guide to closing that gap. It is the same set of questions we would ask if we were buying for our own homes.
1. Find out who is actually doing the work
The person who quotes your system is often not the person who installs it. Many retailers sell the job, then hand it to a subcontractor you have never met. That is not always bad, but you should know before you sign.
Ask two questions. Are the installers employees of the company, or subcontractors? And who is the licensed electrical contractor responsible for the electrical work?
In Queensland, connecting solar or a battery to your switchboard is electrical work and must be done under a licensed electrical contractor. Every licensed contractor has a licence number. Ask for it, and check it on the Electrical Safety Office licence search. Ours is QLD Electrical Contractors Licence No. 88122.
2. Check the accreditation of the individual, not just the company
To claim the STC discount on solar, or the federal battery rebate, the installation has to be signed off by an accredited installer. Accreditation belongs to a person, not a business. A company can say "our installers are accredited" while the person on your roof is not the one whose name goes on the paperwork.
Ask for the name and accreditation number of the installer who will attend your job. A good company will give it to you without fuss.
3. Read the contract, not the pitch
The complaints reported by the ABC had a pattern: large deposits, pressure to sign quickly, unclear delivery dates, and work that did not match what was sold. Almost all of that is visible in the contract before you sign it, if you look.
- Deposit. How much is it, and when is the balance due? A deposit that covers most of the job before anything is delivered puts all the risk on you.
- Install date. Is there a date, or a window, in writing? "A few weeks" is not a date.
- Site visit. Has anyone looked at your roof, shading and switchboard before the price was fixed? If not, expect the price to change once they do.
- Quote validity. Ours are valid for 30 days unless stated. Anything that expires today is a sales technique, not a business term.
- Rebate step-downs. The federal battery rebate steps down every six months. That is a fact worth knowing. It is not a reason to sign a contract you have not read.
4. Understand who owes you the warranty
This is the part most people find out too late. There are three different promises on a solar or battery system.
- Manufacturer warranties on the panels, inverter and battery. These typically survive even if the company that sold you the system does not.
- The workmanship warranty from the installer. This covers the mounting, the cabling, the switchboard work and the water-tightness of your roof. It is only worth as much as the company behind it.
- Your rights under Australian Consumer Law. Your claim for a faulty system is against the retailer who sold it to you, not the manufacturer. That is a strong protection while the retailer exists. It is worth very little if the retailer has wound up and re-opened under a new name.
So the real question is not "how long is the warranty?" It is "who do I call in year five, and will they answer?" The honest signals are boring ones: how long the company has been trading under the same name, whether it has a physical office you can walk into, whether it employs its own installers, and whether its reviews stretch back years rather than months.
5. Read reviews for patterns, not stars
A star rating on its own tells you little. Look at how the reviews are spread over time. A company that has been installing for many years should have reviews from many years. Look for mentions of what happened after the install: a callback, a warranty question, a service visit. That is where good and poor operators separate.
Also look at the consumer code register. The New Energy Tech Consumer Code lists approved sellers who have committed to no pressure selling, clear contracts and prompt complaint handling. It is a public search, and it is the code the company in the ABC story was removed from.
6. Ask how they sized it
This one is not about safety. It is about whether the system will do what you bought it for.
If a quote was produced from a photo of your power bill and nothing else, the seller knows how much energy your home used, but not when. A home that runs the pool pump and air conditioning at midday needs a different design from one that comes alive at 6 pm when everyone gets home. A battery makes sense for one household and not for another, on the same bill total.
A company that asks about your usage pattern, your plans for an EV, your hot water and your roof before it talks about kilowatts is designing. One that does not is selling.
The checklist
- Electrical contractor licence number, checked on the Queensland register
- Name and accreditation number of the installer attending your job
- Employees or subcontractors, in writing
- Deposit amount, payment schedule and install date in the contract
- Site assessment before the price is fixed
- Manufacturer warranties, workmanship warranty and who honours each
- Years trading under the same name, physical office, reviews spread over time
- Consumer code register searched
- Design based on when you use power, not just how much
How we do it
For what it is worth, here is how Green Coast Solar & Electrical answers its own checklist. We have been installing on the Gold Coast since 2009, with more than 6,000 systems across South East Queensland. Our install team are our own employees. No subcontractors, no hand-offs. Our director, Ash, is an engineer by training who then did an electrical apprenticeship and has personally installed more than 2,500 systems. We hold QLD Electrical Contractors Licence No. 88122, our installers are accredited, and we are licensed battery installers. We give a 10-year workmanship warranty and we handle the rebate paperwork and grid connection ourselves. Our office is in Arundel and you can walk into it.
We are on Google with a 4.9 rating from 119 reviews at the time of writing. You are welcome to read them for patterns.
Start with a conversation, not a quote
The first step with us is a free phone or video chat about your home, your usage and your goals. No hardware talk until we understand what the system is for. If it is a fit, we come out, check the roof, shading and switchboard, and design it properly. Then you get a written quote you can take your time over. No pressure, no obligation.
Book a free consultation or call 0468 097 875.
Sources
- ABC News, 13 August 2026: Multiple investigations into solar power battery provider after hundreds of complaints
- ABC News, 9 September 2026: Whistleblowers accuse solar battery installers of fraud, misconduct in federal rebate scheme
- New Energy Tech Consumer Code: Find an approved seller
- Electrical Safety Office Queensland: electricalsafety.qld.gov.au
